The decision gives Alonso a golden opportunity to make up some of the ground he has lost in the championship following a major step forward in performance made by Red Bull
since the Singapore Grand Prix
at the end of September.

When Hamilton started at the back
at the Spanish Grand Prix,
after qualifying on pole by more than half a second, he made it back up to eighth by the end of the race.

"It's an issue which was reported, it was an instruction from Renault who wanted to stop the engine immediately due to an issue within the fuel cell. We did that.

"The FIA accepted the technical issue, but unfortunately, as the regulations dictate, there has to be one litre of fuel for a sample to be taken and only 850ml has been extracted.

"Renault are convinced the rest of the fuel is in the tank. We've taken the car out of parc ferme to further investigate."

Analysis

Gary AndersonBBC F1 technical analyst

"You must play it safe for how much petrol you have in the car and some teams don't. Sometimes I think people push it too much to the limit and you need to be more in control.

"The team has to come to the FIA and tell them why the car stopped on the grid. The FIA will listen and then they'll make a decision."

On Vettel's reaction he said: "He's remarkably calm. He has dealt with it. He said: 'Out of a negative comes a positive.' He'll be maximum attack tomorrow."

Vettel himself said: "One of the best ski jumpers of all time once said: 'Every chance is an opportunity.' And as far as we are concerned there are still plenty of chances tomorrow."

Horner added that Vettel would start from the pit lane rather than the back of the grid. The team wanted to investigate the causes of the fuel problem, he said, which breaks F1's parc ferme regulations that dictate teams cannot modify their cars between qualifying and race.

Starting from the pit lane also enables them to change such features as gear ratios and downforce settings, which Red Bull may want to do to make it easier for Vettel to overtake in the race.

The F1 rules require the car to return to the pits with at least one litre of fuel on board because running less fuel gives a performance advantage.

The rule - article 6.6.2 of the technical regulations - dictates that cars must make their way back to the pits under their own power but says that exceptions may be made in cases of force majeure.

A statement from governing body the FIA said: "The stewards heard from the driver and team representatives and studied telemetry evidence that showed the reason why the car was stopped.

"The stewards accepted the explanation and considered the incident as being a case of force majeure.

"However, a report was received from the technical delegate that showed during post-qualifying scrutineering an insufficient quantity of fuel for sampling purposes.

"The stewards determine that this is a breach of article 6.6.2 of the FIA Formula 1 technical regulations and the competitor is accordingly excluded from the results of the qualifying session."

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Comments

Whilst I accept that it was a great drive from Seb, why was his car allowed to be worked on to adjust the settings for the race? Surely he should have been demoted to the back of the grid and his car kept in Parc Ferme as they did with Lewis when he ran out of fuel.

A great drive, it's just the inconsistency of dealing this by the FIA which leaves a question over his third place.

Sundy morning: "Great!! This will make the championship more exciting!!"Vettel finishes third."Oh my, there's no hope for Fernando now...If that's the worst luck Vettel can get, there's no stopping him!"

TwirlipI hesitate to comment on your posts as you seem to be quite excitable.Do you really, honestly, deep down in your heart believe that SV came through the field to 3rd place entirely on his own merit and skill? Surely you must admit there was a considerable slice of good fortune as well.Try to be honest with your assessment when replying, please.

SV is undoubtedly a good driver, but - you SV fans knew there was a but coming. His drive yesterday owed a great deal to good fortune. Would he really have achieved 3rd place without the benefits of the safety car? Also, remember the car set up had been altered to aid overtaking and the cars he was racing were all stuck with quali settings. This gave SV a big advantage which he made the most of.

I don't get the hate directed at Vettel. He might have a great car, but Webber is driving the same thing and consistently losing out.

I think Hamilton, Alonso and Vettel are all great and the bitterness that some people seem to have toward any of them doing well is pointless. I only single out Vettel because he seems to be getting most of it at the moment

What a brilliant race today and 3rd place finish for Sebastian Vettel. He is amazing and will be a worthy 3rd time World Champion. Exciting last two races to look forward to. Why do folk on here have to be nasty? We all have our favourites. Pour your passion into that instead of slagging off the awesome abilities of these talented guys

"Never said you had. I've pointed out the racism directed at Vettel many times."

Oh grow up, Twirlip. You've become EXACTLY the same as the "fanboys" of Hamilton you claim to loathe. Afterall, you've ridiculed them when they mention "racism" yet what do you do now in response to the criticism of Vettel? Claim there is racism against him. It's too pathetic for words.

Anyway,more "flip-flopping" from the man who has acknowledged, repeatedly, that "F1 is a more level playing field nowadays." Meaning, it's all relative. You will not see a two second gap again in F1 any time soon, as you yourself admit.

That being said, a RB 1.3 second gain in qualy from Monza to Suzuka is quite something!

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